A real life transformer.

• Position: THE BIG PICTURE - Method-2

It might look like a prop for the next

Transformers movie, but Method-2, the world's first manned, two-legged robot, is the real deal.

The 13-foot-tall machine, currently being tested in a lab in South Korea, weighs 1.5 tons, has an arm span of 23 feet, and is piloted by a person sitting inside its massive torso. Engineers hope one day to put robots like this to use in manufacturing and ocean exploration, and on rescue missions too dangerous for humans to attempt unprotected. Why does Method-2 look like it just stepped off a movie set? It might have something to do with its designer, Vitaly Bulgarov, who created visual effects for movies like RoboCop and Ghost in the Shell. "Hollywood often gets out in...